Transparent book jacket protector



Jan. 16, 1962 H. J. ARMsoN TRANSPARENT BOOK JACKET PROTECTOR Filed Sept. 1'7, 1959 HHRaAp QP/1.50%

BY Z 2 GM v- .4I-Ju ATroRNe-YS 3,0l7,2l Patented Jan. 16, 1962 ice 3,017,201 TRANSPARENT BI JACKET PRTECTOR Harold J. Armson, Madison, Wis., assgnor to Finer Products Limited, Madison, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Sept. 17, 1959, Ser. No. 840,608 3 Claims. (ci. rs1-34) This invention relates to a transparent book jacket protector.

The book jackets carry pictures and information concerning the books to which they are applied and it is desirable to retain the jackets on the books. However, the jackets are fragile and easily torn and soiled. Therefore, for library use in particular, it is desirable to protect the jacket in a transparent envelope which will not interfere with its application in the usual way about the covers of the book to which the jacket pertains.

The present protective envelope has the desired body and retains the jacket securely and is readily manipulated to receive the jacket. It is reinforced along its bottom margin where it is particularly subject to wear by reason f contact with a bookshelf and yet the facing web which covers the jacket is fully transparent to the extreme margin of the jacket so that no pictorial or printed matter on the jacket is concealed.

To accomplish these objectives, the protective envelope comprises a facing web of transparent material such as cellulose (Cellophane) or the like having along its bottom margin a narrow strip of tape, preferably of like material, adhesively attached to the lower margin of a backing web, which is desirably made of paper. The assembly is then folded substantially on a median line of the reinforcing tape to superpose the backing web on the facing web, the fold being formed in the facing web and the tape. When the protective envelope is applied to a book jacket, the lower margin of the book jacket is inserted into the bight of this fold.

The backing web is substantially co-extensive with the book jacket to be protected. The facing web is wider not only to provide for the fold above described but to provide a second fold spaced from its upper margin to provide a flange which is folded over the upper margin of the jacket and the upper margin or" the backing web to complete the enclosure of the jacket. A strip of pressure sensitive adhesive protected by a short removable parting sheet is applied to the inside of this flange intermediate its ends. When the book jacket is in place within the envelope, the parting sheet is stripped from the pressuresensitive adhesive and the flange is pressed onto the backing web to hold the envelope closed about the jacket. The jacket is then reapplied about the covers of the book in the usual way. Short lengths of cellulose tape may be used if desired to connect the enveloped jacket ends with the interior surfaces of the book covers.

The backing web may be made somewhat wider than the book jacket to be protected and may have a plurality of parallel pre-formed lines of fold (either scoring or perforations) whereby the width of the backing web may be conformed to book jackets of various width, at the same time providing a reenforced margin of the backing web in proximity to the edge of the book jacket.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a view in perspective showing the transparent book jacket protector embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary detail view on an enlarged scale showing portions of the facing and backing webs and the intervening tape as they appear during assembly.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the parts as they appear when folded.

FIG. 4 is a View in perspective illustrating the introduction of the book jacket into the protective envelope and the withdrawing of the parting strip.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. l but showing the jacket in place within the protective envelope.

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective showing how the protective jacket is applied about the covers of a book.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatically enlarged detail view taken in section and fragmentarily illustrating a portion of the book contents and cover and the applied envelope jacket.

It is important that the facing web 10 be made of transparent material such as the reconstituted cellulose known as Cellophane It is not important whether backing web 11 is transparent. In order that the comleted envelope may have body, it is preferred that the backing web 11 be made of paper. The width of the backing web 11 may exceed the width of the book jacket to be protected and arrangements may be made for folding its margin onto the face of the backing web 11 at any one of a number of prepared fold lines 111 defined by perforating or scoring the backing web. The prepared fold lines 111 are desirably parallel to each other and to the margin 110. In practice, they are located about one-quarter of an inch apart. The provision for folding the margin of the backing web makes it possible to render the finished web substantially coextensive with a number of different widths of book jackets, the backing web margin being folded on that prepared fold line which most closely coincides with the margin of the particular jacket.

The reinforcing tape 12 is laminated to the facing web 1t along its lowermargin 13 by means of adhesive i4. With the facing web 10 and the tape 12 substantially fiat as shown in FIG. 2, the backing web 11 is attached to tape 12 by any desired means such as a narrow strip 15 of adhesive. When the facing web and the reinforcing tape 12 are now folded substantially at the lower margin 16 of the backing web 11, the said margin 16 will be enclosed within the fold 17 as shown in FIG. 3. Since the tape 12 is preferably a transparent cellulose tape, it will be substantially invisible. Its presence can hardly be detected, even with close inspection. The drawings greatly exaggerate the thickness of the material.

The book jacket 20 is now inserted in the bight or fold 17 with its margin 21 in registry with the lower margin 16 of the backing web 11, as shown in FIG. 4. The backing web 11 is desirably substantially coextensive with the jacket 20 and with that portion of the facing web 10 which lies between the fold 17 and another fold provided at 23 for enclosing the upper margins 24 and 2S of the book jacket and the backing web respectively. With the jacket in place, the free marginal portion 30 of the facing web is folded over the margins 24 and 25 as a flange to complete the enclosure of the jacket. Desirably, the ange 30 carries near its center some pressure-sensitive adhesive at 31 which is temporarily covered with the parting strip 32. When this strip 32 is pulled free as suggested in FIG. 4, the adhesive is exposed so that, when the flange 30 is lapped over the backing web 11 as shown in FIG. 5, the adhesive will connect flange 30 to the backing web to seal the envelope about the jacket 20. The arrangement is such that ,the assembly can be handled unitarily. The jacket is tightly bound within the envelope. Yet the adhesive does not touch the jacket itself and the jacket may readily be pulled from the envelope through its open end. Alternatively, the marginal flange portion 3i) of the facing web may be pulled free of the backing web. Damage to the paper backing web 11 will be slight. It will be understood, of course, that it is broadly immaterial whether the adhesive coating 31 is applied to the paper web l1 or the transparent web margin 30.

The protected jacket may be applied about the book covers 34 and 35 with the same facility as if it were not enclosed. It is quite common to connect the ends to the interior surfaces of the book covers by short lengths of adhesive tape as indicated at 36 in HG. 6.

It will be understood that the scale in FIG. 6 is too small to show the numerous plies which represent the jacket at the facing and backing Webs of the envelope. However, these are shown in large detail in FIG. 7, where the line 38 represents the surface of a shelf. The book cover is shown at 34 next to the reinforced fold 17 of the jacket-protecting envelope. The book contents are diagrammatically indicated at 39.

It will be noted that the opaque backing web 11 is not folded about the jacket on any margin, being substantially coextensive therewith. The facing web laps the lower margin of the jacket 'and the backing web only very narrowly, the lap representing less than half the width of the Very narrow transparent reinforcing tape 12.

Considerable material is saved by the fact that the inner flange 341 is very materially less than half the height of the jacket. It is held in place by the pressure-sensitive adhesive 31 rather than by the friction which might be developed by a Wider ange. In the resulting highly satisfactory protective envelope, the entire outer surface of the jacket is exposed to view to its extreme margins through the transparent web 1@ and the almost invisible transparent reinforcing tape 12.

I claim:

1. A protective envelope for a book jacket comprising a transparent facing web, a one piece backing web having a lower margin about which a lower marginal portion of the facing web is folded and adhesively joined to the backing web, the backing web providing a continuous surface substantially coextensive with the book jacket to be protected and the facing web having a top marginal portion free of and projecting beyond the backing web to i be folded over the backing web and a book jacket introduced between said Webs.

2. The device of claim 1 in further combination with web-connecting means fixed to one of said webs for connecting to the backing web the top portion of the facing web after said top portion is folded thereover.

3. A protective envelope for a book jacket wherein the face of the jacket is visible to its extreme margins, said envelope comprising a backing web with a continuous surface coextensive with the book jacket to be protected, a facing web as long as said book jacket and materially Wider, the facing web being transparent and having a transparent reinforcing tape laminated thereto along its lower margin, the laminated facing web and tape having a fold extending longitudinally of the tape 'and substantially on a median line thereof with the tape on the inside of the fold to provide a bight about the lower margin of the backing web and within which the lower margin of the book jacket to be protected is also receivable, that portion of the tape behind the backing web being adhesively connected with the backing web, the facing web having a top flange portion upon said facing web to provide a bight and enveloping the top margin of the backing web, the book jacket to be protected being receivable between said Webs to be enclosed within said bight and said flange having intermediate its ends a `coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive, and a protective strip removably attached to said coating, the said coating being adapted, on removal of said strip, to provide means for securing the ange portion of the facing web to the back of the backing web to retain a book jacket between said webs suiciently securely for unitary manipulation.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,445,871 Brody July 27, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 219,154 Australia Dec. 5, 1958 

